The Four Mile Fire Protection District will weigh three different proposed plans today for a new fire station on Fourmile Canyon Drive, but some residents in the area said they don't think the site is a good choice.

The proposed three-bay fire station at 1740 Fourmile Canyon Drive would replace the station currently at Logan Mill. That fire station was the original fire station for the district -- which now has four stations -- but officials say the building is outdated and the site would not be able to handle the new facility.

"It served its purpose well for close to 50 years," said Four Mile Fire Chief Bret Gibson. "But it's worn out and really hard to maintain."

The district's lease on the site is about to run out, and in addition to the size of the site, Gibson said after the 2010 Fourmile Fire that the station is in a floodplain. Gibson said the station has been damaged by water four times in the past two years.

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The land for the new station was donated to the department, already has electricity and water utilities, and also has a second access point at Poorman Road, should Fourmile Drive be closed. Gibson said the extra space will allow the department to put in training and office space as well as a parking lot.

The new station would also have the ability to serve as a command post in the event of a large-scale operation in the area. The district does not currently have a command post and must take over school buildings or use "the tailgates of our trucks," Gibson said.

The district was the recipient of some good financial news Friday, however, with the announcement from U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., that it will receive $438,888 in competitive grant funds from the Homeland Security Department to hire more firefighters.

But the department's plans for its new proposed site triggered a memo last week to the Boulder County Land Use Department from residents who live near the location, and want the district to keep the new station at the Logan Mill site. One of the people who signed the memo, Pam Penfold, who lives on Fourmile Canyon Drive close to the proposed site, doesn't think the site is big enough to accommodate the station.

"The problem with the site, it's right on the road and extends about 50 feet before the hill," she said. "There's really just no room. We just don't think it's a logical location."

She also said the station sits next to a section of straightaway where cars and cyclists tend to speed and may hit emergency vehicles that are pulling out.

"I see them trying to negotiate these huge fire trucks in and out of this space," Penfold said. "I think it's an accident waiting to happen."

Gibson said having the fire station at a straightaway may actually prevent accidents with longer sightlines, and that having the station's presence may even slow down traffic in the area through signage and speed sensors.

As far as space, Gibson feels the site will be big enough to build everything the department needs.

"We didn't go into this blind," he said. "We would be able to accommodate a majority of our needs. Maybe not all of it perfectly, but it's not a perfect world."

On a more personal note, Penfold said the residents are not looking forward to the noise and commotion having a fire station will bring. Four Mile cycles its on-duty firefighters between the four stations, but she said while they are there, the noise will carry through the canyon.

"Our personal problem is that it's unsightly and noisy," she said. "They run the engines, swear loudly, chat and laugh and are there for hours making a racket 100 yards from my house."

Penfold also said she was upset with what she felt was a lack of communication from the fire district regarding the project. She also said she has not heard back from the county regarding residents' letter.

"Nobody in the canyon knew about it" until early November," she said. "They never had the gumption or the insight to talk to the neighbors so there could be some consensus and some input by the people going to be affected by it.

"We love the firefighters, Lord knows they saved a lot of lives and homes two years ago. But they can't run roughshod over the people and the community."

But Gibson said at public meetings held to discuss the station he felt his department addressed most concerns expressed by residents.

"I think they left with a cleaner, happier understanding of what kind of neighbors we are going to be," he said. "Nobody wants something built across from their house. We understand that and we acknowledge that but the fire station needs to go somewhere. Some neighbor is going to be upset."

At today's public meeting, three different contractors will present preliminary plans for the station and answer questions from the public. Gibson said a decision on who to hire will likely be made about a week later, with construction hopefully beginning in the spring or summer of 2013.

The station will likely cost around $750,000 to build. Some funds will come from donations and grants, but much of the money for the station comes from the sale of the house of a former Four Mile firefighter, Chris Hendrickson. She left her home to the district when she died after a battle with leukemia two years ago.

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